EP2393639 discloses a slicer apparatus of the type used for slicing in particular fish fillets, where the apparatus comprises a cutting means arranged in a conveying path, where the cutting means comprises a set of moveable reciprocating knives and a cutting land where the knives are moveable relative to the cutting land and the surface of the conveyor path.
Moreover, the knives and the cutting land are arranged on a common member which member may be rotated through a predetermined arch about a horizontal axis, perpendicular to the conveyor path's transport direction.
The principle of this slicer apparatus is illustrated graphically in FIGS. 1(a) to 1(d) showing where the slicer apparatus is cutting a fish fillet 101 such as a salmon fillet with a reciprocating knife 103 that is moveable in a back and forth direction as indicated by the arrow, where the angular adjustment is utilized to cut the fish fillet into slices of preferably similar size, thickness and weight. The result of such a cutting may e.g. be very thin fish slices as shown in FIG. 2.
However, in several situations this can have some drawbacks and particularly when cutting under shallow angles compared to horizontal carrying surface, e.g. as shown in FIG. 1d), it can be problematic to obtain the desired cut because the fish fillet may in some cases not have sufficient support from the support surface, i.e. the conveyor system 104, and thus may slide during the cutting under such a shallow angle.
This is partly solved by designing the shape of the cutting land such that it provides a good counter hold effect on the fish fillet when the cutting is performed. Hence, when the knives and the cutting land are turned to a shallower angle, i.e. relative to the conveyor, the cutting land is in a more physical firm contact with the fish fillet. However, this may disturb the conveying of the fish fillet. As an example, the last cut piece 105 of the fish fillet can in some instances be resting on the cutting land 102 since an edge of the cutting land in such a shallow angle position may extend partly above the support surface level, and thus not follow the conveying direction of the remaining cut pieces of this particular fish fillet.
Also, the fish-meat has a tendency to be pulled apart when cutting at such shallow angles compared to when cutting at less shallow angles. When the knife is moved almost perpendicularly through the fish fillet, there is more meat on both sides of the knife to ensure intrinsic meat connection and hence the tendency to pull the meat apart is much less.